There is something so palpable afoot in America today. You can see it in print, feel it in the crowds, hear it on the radio, maybe even watch it at your family dinner table. Things are changing. Looking back it seems kind of funny that Barack Obama used the slogan Change You Can Believe In. The fact of life is that change is always happening and all pain dwells in trying to stop it, control it, ignore it, deny it.
But the country is heaving with change these days. The people who want no change (some even want to go backwards) are so morally, emotionally, spiritually bankrupt that they can only behave like bullies, village idiots, buffoons. You can find them at town halls, on the Mall, protesting high school performances of Rent, forcing truancy on their kids to avoid hearing a Black man to tell them to work hard in school and to wash their hands. They are birthers, deathers, yellers, shouters, blusterers; fundamentally they are gasping on fumes of their own exhale.
President Carter said that he believes some of the animosity being thrown at President Obama is happening because some Americans (mostly Southerners) do not believe an African American could be qualified to lead the country. I think that is a very light touch on the mountain of bigotry that is bubbling underneath an ever thinning veneer. I believe that this particular group of people cannot follow a Black leader, cannot be led by a Black leader. And to go a bit deeper on this subject, they cannot reconcile that they made much of this possible through granting full citizenship to Black men, integrating schools, enacting affirmative action. As I heard a woman on KPFK say, (I am sorry I did not get her name) “Once he got elected, some people were shocked that it happened and their hoods fell off.” My opinion is that if you don’t see that this is all about racism, you need to do a lot of work on your racism. To hear Mr. Gibbs say today, at the White House Press conference, that President Obama thinks this has nothing to do with race was so unauthentic, so insincere, so disheartening that I can only shake my head in disgust that it is so bad, Barack Obama cannot address this obvious racial bigotry. I do understand that it would contribute to its volatility for him to name it; but it is pathetic.
We are in an arm wrestling tournament in regards to health care. This is only and all about caring for others who did not accrue the ability to care for themselves. On one hand, this is very, very complicated. Are they poor? Are they unable to work? Are they lazy? The racists might even think that not caring for the poor is one way to keep people of color from advancing – hoping for a high mortality rate, not just for babies, but for those who have no access to wellness, good food, clean water and clean air. (and yes, they are really pissed off that one Barack Obama broke out of the hobbled pack) But on the other hand it could not be easier; we have enough for every man, woman and child to be cared for and to deny that care is immoral. I believe that only conversation that should be going on in regards to health care is how to take care of everyone ASAP.
Progressives are collecting their spirit, counting breaths, identifying causes, holding the line of sight on Equality. All of this push back is ugly, scary, should I even say ~ violent but it means people can feel that change is a comin’.
But the country is heaving with change these days. The people who want no change (some even want to go backwards) are so morally, emotionally, spiritually bankrupt that they can only behave like bullies, village idiots, buffoons. You can find them at town halls, on the Mall, protesting high school performances of Rent, forcing truancy on their kids to avoid hearing a Black man to tell them to work hard in school and to wash their hands. They are birthers, deathers, yellers, shouters, blusterers; fundamentally they are gasping on fumes of their own exhale.
President Carter said that he believes some of the animosity being thrown at President Obama is happening because some Americans (mostly Southerners) do not believe an African American could be qualified to lead the country. I think that is a very light touch on the mountain of bigotry that is bubbling underneath an ever thinning veneer. I believe that this particular group of people cannot follow a Black leader, cannot be led by a Black leader. And to go a bit deeper on this subject, they cannot reconcile that they made much of this possible through granting full citizenship to Black men, integrating schools, enacting affirmative action. As I heard a woman on KPFK say, (I am sorry I did not get her name) “Once he got elected, some people were shocked that it happened and their hoods fell off.” My opinion is that if you don’t see that this is all about racism, you need to do a lot of work on your racism. To hear Mr. Gibbs say today, at the White House Press conference, that President Obama thinks this has nothing to do with race was so unauthentic, so insincere, so disheartening that I can only shake my head in disgust that it is so bad, Barack Obama cannot address this obvious racial bigotry. I do understand that it would contribute to its volatility for him to name it; but it is pathetic.
We are in an arm wrestling tournament in regards to health care. This is only and all about caring for others who did not accrue the ability to care for themselves. On one hand, this is very, very complicated. Are they poor? Are they unable to work? Are they lazy? The racists might even think that not caring for the poor is one way to keep people of color from advancing – hoping for a high mortality rate, not just for babies, but for those who have no access to wellness, good food, clean water and clean air. (and yes, they are really pissed off that one Barack Obama broke out of the hobbled pack) But on the other hand it could not be easier; we have enough for every man, woman and child to be cared for and to deny that care is immoral. I believe that only conversation that should be going on in regards to health care is how to take care of everyone ASAP.
Progressives are collecting their spirit, counting breaths, identifying causes, holding the line of sight on Equality. All of this push back is ugly, scary, should I even say ~ violent but it means people can feel that change is a comin’.
Well said, Zoe.
Posted by: Cindy Voll | September 18, 2009 at 10:21 AM